8 Things you must consider before switching to an Electric Car

1. First things first. How much will it cost? Electric Cars are expensive and the more you look into them, the more they seem like a luxury item that only rich people can afford. You do know that gas prices have been going up so this may be an issue for some of you. If you don’t want to pay as much for electricity then you might need to think about other options. Will you get any free power from my home? If you live in a place that has things like solar panels, wind farms, or other means of generating free (or cheap) electricity then the car may not be as necessary.

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2. What about long distance travelling and How easy is it to find charging stations? You better know that you’re going to be able to charge up before you leave. Because if you’re going to be left stranded because you ran out of juice then it’s not really worth it. This is another thing that you should really think about. Depending on your driving distances, the time of day you charge up, and other factors it may be easier to find charging stations at certain times of the day. For instance, why drive all the way to some random town that’s an hour away from you if you can plug in at your local 7-11? 

3.  How much range do I get per charge? This is a combination of how much you spend electricity and how far you’re driving. The longer the range, the more money you’re going to have to spend on the car. Work is being done to improve the miles-per-charge and reduce the charging time.

4.  What kind of safety features does it have? This is probably most important. You need to make sure that the car you’re looking to buy has all the safety features you could want. There are instances where some electric car’s Autopilot ”kicked in” and slammed the emergency brakes on in cases of extreme accident-like situations.
5.  Is it easy to drive? This one depends on the car. If you’re used to driving a car that has a manual transmission and a clutch then an automatic may take some getting used to. Some cars have all-wheel drive, while others only have 4 wheel drive. If you live in a place that gets a lot of snow or ice, then AWD or all-wheel drive is important. With more and more electric vehicles trying to incorporate auto-pilot features, we doubt that this question might be relevant after a few years.

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6. Insurance for Electric Cars: You get insurance costs for electric vehicles. Insurance companies are still getting around to adapting to this new technology, and the prices are going to vary depending on a lot of different factors. The average cost of car insurance for a Tesla is $4,539 per year

7. Cost of maintaining an electric car: The average cost of maintaining an electric car is about $2000 a year, and you will need to replace the battery every 5-7 years. Needless to say that companies are trying to come up with more effective and low-cost batteries. This is assuming your driving habits are average. If you drive less then you’ll probably end up saving money..
8. Repairing costs of Electric cars: The cost of fixing an electric car is significantly higher than the cost of a regular gas-guzzling car due to the fact that electric cars use less expensive and lighter materials. In most cases, you can buy a used electric car for around the same price as a used gasoline car, but the repair costs are going to be higher. The cost of fixing an electric car could be anywhere from $2000 to $15,000 for a mid-range model. Because of highly specialized parts, not sure if your local mechanic might be able to fix things and get the required spare parts and you might end up getting big bills from your car manufacturer after the ‘free servicing ends.